


My Own

by izzyb



Category: Twilight (2008 2009), Twilight - Meyer
Genre: Awesome Ladies Ficathon, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-22
Updated: 2010-07-22
Packaged: 2017-10-10 17:50:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/102454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzyb/pseuds/izzyb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't get to have me (this life is my own).</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Own

**Author's Note:**

> Written for The Awesome Ladies Drabblefest on lj for the prompt "Twilight, Bella Swan (/nobody), you don't get to have me." AU: Deviates from New Moon.

In another life, Bella Swan spends a good part of a year inside herself, then doing every reckless thing she can so that she doesn't have to stay there anymore. She aims for him to rescue her.

This life, however, is her own.

*

Her dad is about ready to either ship her off to her mom's or call for professional help when she surfaces. It happens on an unusually bright day for Washington—the sun streaming soft rays into her room and not a cloud in the sky.

She stops staring at the way the light reflects on the wooden floor of her bedroom and walks outside to sit on the front porch, soaking up the warmth and not thinking about anything at all, least of all him.

The irony is that he wouldn't be there anyway even if he wanted to because the sun would keep him away.

Her dad drives up and sees her there as he fumbles the car door closed. He smiles at her for the first time in three months, ruffles her hair lightly, and walks inside.

*

Jacob is huge—not that she's checking out his shoulders or his massive arms. He has no problem showing off for her though, flexing as he reaches to grab one of the tools he needs to work on her car.

"What's wrong with it now?" he asks, not, Wow, Bella, you want my help when I haven't heard from you in forever? Thanks, but no thanks. I have an appointment with my weights.

"Not sure," she says and curls up in the chair in the corner, rubbing her palms on her jeans. "It just flips out when I try to take it over forty."

He mumbles under his breath and picks up another tool, this time normally so that his muscles hardly twitch.

She's examining her fingernails when he looks up again. "You look good," he says.

Her eyes meet his. "Surprised?"

His mouth quirks up and he shrugs, but doesn't answer her. She likes that he doesn't feel the need for platitudes.

*

It's spring before she starts to feel watched again—she wakes up in the dark, heart pounding from the intensity of the recurring dream she's had lately of wolves chasing her. Even though she can't see anything, she knows someone's there.

She should have known that he wouldn't be able to leave for long.

*

Alice comes to see her, eyes big and round, says she's heard from him, they're worried about her.

"Why?" she asks. She's doing fine, she's healthy, she's eating—her arms even have a bit of a tan from the picnic in the park last weekend. Then it hits her—someone must be after her, another vampire to even the score. "But he left me. They can't use me to get to him."

There's regret in Alice's eyes. "But they know he still loves you."

She isn't sure how she feels about that.

*

Summer arrives and she's still alive. He must have done something to keep her that way, though Bella isn't sure what since all her news of him comes through Alice and Alice doesn't like to upset her.

It's fitting that he meets her in the woods, the place he left her. She's taking a walk, ignoring the warnings from the people (and vampires—they returned to the house last month) in her life that she still has to be careful, don't go too far alone.

She practically runs into him, has to sit down abruptly when she does.

"Bella," he says.

Her tongue won't work.

"I'm sorry." He reaches a hand out to touch her face and she flinches. There's shock on his face and she laughs mirthlessly.

"Me too." And then she walks away.


End file.
